Heath residents inquire about property values at Town Hall meeting

(HEATH, TX – May 27, 2016) More than 200 Heath residents packed the Community Room of Heath City Hall during a Town Hall meeting on Thursday, May 26, to ask constructive questions regarding the countywide massive increase in property values.

Patricia Davis and Kevin Massis with the Rockwall Central Appraisal District (CAD) were on hand to explain how the appraisal district arrived at the property values for this year and why many property owners saw their land values nearly triple since last year.

According to Kevin – an appraiser with the Rockwall CAD – the appraisal district compiled an abundance of sales information from 2015 in order to run ratio studies, with the end result of those studies arriving at a number falling right at, above or below 100 percent total market value.

“Say a property’s appraisal value in 2015 was $125,000 – $100,000 was the improvement, $25,000 was the land – but that property sold in 2015 for $150,000,” Kevin said. “So the market is saying that there’s $25,000 worth of increase that we have to allocate for in order to be at 100 percent market value. So we allocated that value to the land in 2016.”

He continued, “The reason we allocated that to land this year is because if you owned a home in 2000, from the year 2000 until now there’s a depreciation factor that takes place from year to year. A lot of things can play into how much a property depreciates – the type of material used to build a house, the quality of construction, so on and so forth. As that property depreciates over the years, the only way we can appreciate that property is if you’ve done something to the house. If you’ve added value to that home then we can appreciate that structure, otherwise it will depreciate from year to year. Therefore we allocated the increase in value in 2016 to the land value.

“It’s a market adjustment, and its adjusting for what properties sold for in 2015 in order to arrive at 2016 values.”

Davis added that since Texas is not a full disclosure state, the abundance of sales information the CAD gathered in order to perform their property analysis this year came in the form of sales surveys and information available on real estate websites such as Truila and Zillow. One resident pointed out that in the spirit of transparency, the appraisal district should share that information with the public and make it easily accessible online, to which Davis said the state legislature does not legally allow the appraisal district to do.

“I don’t have a problem with putting all that information out there, but it’s not legal for us to do so,” Davis replied.

Another resident illustrated the idea that the sales information the CAD used may not have been all that accurate. The appraisal district ran its ratio studies by neighborhood, grouping together subdivisions and neighborhoods based on similar properties and properties with similar amenities. According to the resident – who stated she owns a property in Buffalo Creek – lots in Buffalo Creek located on and off the golf course were all assigned the same value.

“We analyzed the sales data that we had for Buffalo Creek for this year,” Kevin said. “And when we went through that data and pinpointed golf course lots versus non golf course lots, in the analysis we did not see a discrepancy in what the golf course homes were selling for and what the non-golf course homes were selling for.”

Others expressed concerns regarding taxes, and inquired what action the public could take to ensure the extreme rise in property values doesn’t result in a higher tax rate. Rockwall County Commissioner Lee Gilbert, who was present at the meeting, invited residents to communicate to city officials their concerns regarding what the county should do about tax rates in response to the countywide inflation of property values.

“I encourage you to send me an email telling me what you think we should be doing with county taxes,” Gilbert said. “Does that mean we cut out services all together? No. But if we’ve had a windfall, you have the right to tell me that you’d like to see an adjustment made in your tax bill. It doesn’t matter what your value is, if the taxing entities adjust the tax rate fairly, then we’re at the same spot.

“We need to be contacting our county commissioners, our city councilmen and our school board and letting them know our feelings.”

Tuesday, May 31, marked the last day for property owners to file a protest about their property values. The Appraisal Review Board will begin holding formal hearings for those who filed protests on Wednesday, June 1. The formal hearings will run through July 20. However, while the ARB must approve records by this date it may not do so if more than 5 percent of total appraised value remains under protest.

During a formal hearing, the CAD and property owner will each present the ARB with their evidence, after which the ARB will decide what’s the fair value for that property. If the property owner isn’t satisfied with that value, he/she has a right to appeal the ARB’s decision through arbitration or filing suit in district court.

The formal hearings are open to the public (limited seating available), and folks can also request an open record of any hearing(s).

Story and photos by Austin Wells, Blue Ribbon News editor.

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